IMPLEMENTING SUSTAINABLE PRACTICE

Over the last 12 months in this series of articles, I have taken the opportunity each month to look in more depth at individual organisations in the amenity sector. How are they seeking to be more sustainable and, importantly, how are they seeking to advise and support members or customers?

This month I have sought to bring together some of the key points that have emerged, especially in terms of how to deliver sustainable practice in a practical way. I also use examples from discussions over the last twelve months.

The key to implementing sustainable practice is firstly to understand what it means. The second essential is to recognise that it is best implemented by an audit of existing practice and recognising the steps that can be taken to deliver greater sustainability. Key also, in making change, is that all factors are taken into account. What these articles have shown is that an action seeking to be more sustainable may in fact impact elsewhere and produce the opposite result. The danger of green washing is ever present.

Understanding the meaning of sustainability

I make no apologies in repeating the definition of sustainability. It has three pillars of equal importance – economic, environmental and social. Taking an action which seeks to protect the environment, but is neither economically viable nor beneficial socially, is not a sustainable action. Seeking to be sustainable requires a truly integrated approach. Recently I had a really interesting discussion with Gary Barwell at Edgbaston, a man with many years’ experience in the sector, and gained his thoughts on sustainability and its implementation. 

Gary is committed to implementing sustainable practice and emphasises that this is a feature of all activities at the complex. Indeed Edgbaston has recently employed a sustainability manager to its team. However, Gary equally emphasises that, in seeking to be more sustainable, a clear understanding of current practice is important (the audit) and, in looking to change, a full route map is taken, ensuring the new approach is in fact more sustainable. He cites the change to electric mowers. Edgbaston have indeed taken this step in the main stadium but, before doing so, a full analysis of cost and performance was undertaken. Gary emphasises that the change needed to stack up against all pillars of sustainability. It was also important to consider recycling opportunities for machines replaced, making use of them perhaps on the practice pitches and ultimately offering to local non-profit cricket grounds.

Sustainable practice is good practice

Gary fully subscribes to this view that sustainable practice is really good practice. The dangers of making decisions without that fully integrated approach, without a route map, are that best intents to be more sustainable can fail. As I have often referred to in these articles, it is vital in taking actions to also consider the full life cycle of any operation or purchase to gain the full carbon footprint implications. Gary applies this to the use of water. Every step is taken to ensure efficient use of water. However, at least for now, Edgbaston has not moved to major water catchment methods. Given its location, water from rooves naturally flows into the nearby river. It is not ruled out but again the view is to take a fully integrated approach and assessment before taking extra actions.

Another example of implementing sustainable practice is at a major football stadium I visited. A key focus for the discussions here was how can football, through the management of its pitches and stadium, contribute to the sustainable agenda and help meet targets to reduce carbon emissions. Again the need for auditing current practice are emphasised before making changes. However key points from this discussion can be summarised as below.

• Seeking to, as much as possible, recycle waste products and divert waste disposal away from landfill
• Reducing single use plastics
• Continuing to investigate alternative forms of transport and power equipment, seeking to reduce environmental impact
• Examining opportunities to improve biodiversity, including potential for the creation of  a living wall and roof garden within the facilities
• Considering water harvesting from rooves and re-cycling water
• Change to LED bulbs for grow lights which are essential to promote grass growth in shaded stadium areas. 

Integrated approaches to weed, pest and disease management

These discussions were supplemented with one from golf and looking, in particular, at what taking an integrated approach meant to them in terms of weed, pest and disease management. Some key points were:

• If starting to build, a free draining root-zone is the beginning for all golf and winter sports turf surfaces. Grass species and cultivars can be chosen and the maintenance programme planned to encourage their growth without pest, weed or disease. Organic matter control is probably the number one cultural control that helps all elements of golf green and sports pitch management.
• As water is required for grass growth, but also for germination and infection by many of the important turf grass pathogens, water management is of great importance. Two maintenance practices are considered; applying irrigation when grass plants require water and keeping the grass surface as dry as possible.
• The period of leaf wetness is also key. Leaf surfaces remaining wet all night encourage pathogens to germinate and potentially infect the grass plants. Dew is also removed by switching, brushing or using dew removal products to reduce the time that the surface stays wet.
• Establishing or over sowing with desirable grass species, especially in combination with organic matter control, helps to ensure ‘fine’ turf surfaces optimal for smooth and true golf greens.
• Consideration of the release pattern of fertilisers can help to prevent peaks and troughs in fertility. Slow release and controlled release fertilisers can ‘drip feed’ the grass, creating more even growth patterns with less stress to the plants, and so reducing susceptibility to low fertility diseases.  
• Using iron sulphate, especially over the autumn and winter period, has helped to reduce diseases such as microdochium patch. This also helps darken the green colour of the grass and put any moss that has crept in at a disadvantage.   

The key message emerging from this particular discussion was again to plan in an integrated manner and, in doing so, deliver on the agenda of sustainable practice.

My final discussion referred to here relates one some months ago and relating to lawncare. How is this sector seeking to adapt to the sustainability and net zero agendas? Here are some steps being taken by one particular organisation. 

• Moving to the use of electric vehicles: Staff engaged in professional lawn care need to travel from house to house and so a vehicle is essential. Electric power makes sense although there are difficulties, including charging capacity and domestic access to charging, and, where larger vehicles are needed for bigger lawns, the extra weight can be an issue. However technology continues to develop and the trend to electric, and indeed hydrogen in future, will continue, linked to government targets and pressures.
• Adding services to the offer to customers; of course partly driven by profitability motives but also sustainability. Such services include water conservers and soil improvers as well as advice to customers on sustainable issues.
• Other sustainable action includes re-cycling and seeking to move away from plastic and using slow release fertilisers and organic products where possible, as developments in the fertiliser industry continue.
• Using tracking software produces reports for drivers seeking to create safer approaches and more sustainable practice
• The use of authorised pesticide to combat the damage caused through pests will continue where possible but it will be linked with advice to customers on cultural ways of reducing incidence of the pests, such as less thatch. The use of nematodes is complex given the small scale of most lawns.
• Commitment to best practice and recognised standards. 

So what does this tell us? Well, whilst implementing sustainable practice can seem daunting, it need not be so. Maybe current operations are the most sustainable.  So the first step is to undertake that audit. The next is to identify actions that can be considered to be more sustainable. These should be considered in an integrated way considering all three pillars of sustainability. 

From my discussions with organisations over the last year, it is clear much is being achieved and in many aspects amenity is leading the field. The drive to greater sustainability cannot be ignored but my discussions reveal a real willingness to embrace it. It is seen as less of a challenge but more an opportunity. The key is determining how best not just to implement sustainable practice but also demonstrating this. In reality much is already being done and it is important that we say this loud and proud. Too often the amenity sector can be criticised, yet so much is being done. Everybody involved needs to say that.

In my monthly articles in 2025, I will take a particular focus on both constructing and implementing integrated management plans, key to sustainable practice, and likely to become more and more required by external agencies in future.

Previous articles in this series

SUSTAINABLE AMENITY MANAGEMENT

SUSTAINABLE PARKS

SEEDS OF SUSTAINABILITY

SUSTAINABILITY IN THE TRAINING SECTOR

SUSTAINABILITY IN LOCAL AUTHORITIES

AN EXAMPLE OF SUSTAINABILITY IN MACHINERY SUPPLY

SUSTAINABILITY IN LANDSCAPING

SUSTAINABILITY IN THE GOLF SECTOR

SUSTAINABLE PRACTICE IN THE AMENITY SUPPLY SECTOR

SUSTAINABILITY IN THE LAWN CARE SECTOR

SUSTAINABILITY IN OUR PARKS & PUBLIC GREEN SPACES